


The Shadow In The Woods

by ShellyNelsonLahey



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Jeronica, barchie, choni, jeronica week, spookytimesjeronicaweek, terror tales
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-12 22:37:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21233705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShellyNelsonLahey/pseuds/ShellyNelsonLahey
Summary: It’s Halloween night, and instead of binging on candy and going out to a party, Cheryl creates a small gathering with her friends for a night of scary fun. Telling scary stories is always a go-to, but who knew that ghost stories could get so horrifying?





	The Shadow In The Woods

**Author's Note:**

> This is day 3 of spooky times Jeronica week, terror tales. Jughead’s story is actually based on a story my brother told me (Archie was my older sister, and Jughead was my brother), and Betty’s story is based on something that happened to me. I know it sounds like nothing, but, seriously, it was horrifying. I went to sleep but like… it took awhile of forcing myself to ignore the sounds of my house, so… anyways I hope you enjoy!

"Hey, Cheryl, where did you put the cheeseballs?" Toni Topaz puffed out her bottom lip in a cute manner. She knew that Cheryl didn't want those disgusting, cheesy calorie-infested shaped "balls" at their small Halloween get-together. And the only thing missing from the snacks they had bought at the store was Toni's cheeseballs. "I know you don't like them, but for me they are the epitome of a delicacy snack I could only get on certain occasions. C'mon, it's Halloween! Treat yourself, just for a night."

With a playful huff, Cheryl pointed towards a cabinet behind Veronica Lodge. "I hid them in there. And because I love you, I will try one... but only one, okay?"

As Veronica reached behind her to open up the cabinet, Toni smiled victoriously and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. "You don't have to eat them if you don't want to, Cher. I just haven't had these since I was, like, two. I know you think they're gross, but sometimes these were all I had to eat. This is a snack for poor kids who wanted to have a snack for school that lasted at least a month—but you have to get the biggest size you can or else it doesn't feel the same."

"Toni's right, cheese balls were my shit as a kid," Jughead raised his eyebrows in agreement. "If princess Cheryl doesn't want any, I will gladly take her share."

"Share? Why do you make it sound like we're dividing it equally?" Toni teased, "and, second of all, the princess title goes to your girlfriend."

"If Jughead calls me his princess, I will break up with him right here, right now," Veronica stated aloud with her pointer finger out. "You may think i'm joking, but I'm not. The amount of times Sweet Pea and Fangs called me Jughead's North Side princess... it's incredibly annoying."

"But you are a princess, Ronnie," Jughead wound his arms around the girl's waist and pulled her into his lap on the sofa, grinning despite her raven hair covering his face. "Coincidentally, though, you have become my princess."

"But that doesn't work anymore, you finally gave Toni the South Side Serpent leader title," Veronica rolled her eyes, "besides, I am not a Serpent, nor do I have any rights to be their 'queen' just because i'm dating you."

"_Finally_?" Jughead tilted his head back. "I gave it to her a year ago."

"Yes... but you shouldn't have been their leader at all in the first place. I know your dad handed it to you via nepotism, but you should have immediately handed it down to Toni. She is the only Uktena-related Serpent left, and that's her right, not yours," Veronica grabbed his wrists and unlinked his grip on her so she could get up. "Anyways, i'll grab the flashlight in the kitchen and then we can get started with the scary stories."

"I have one!" Cheryl smirked, gazing between her cousin and Jughead. "It's called Betty Cooper knowingly dates her step brother and doesn't tell him, and they only break up because their parents get together after years of wishing they got together before settling down with other people."

"Let's not remind me," Veronica gagged from the kitchen. "Or anyone, ever. Keep that shit at the bottom of the ocean."

"Okay, Cheryl," Betty murmured, rubbing her forearm as the memories and how she felt during those times bubbled up. "I know, it's gross that we share a brother and continued to date up until our parents decided to get married and make us actual, legit step-siblings, and that I became an awful version of myself while dating Jughead, but i'm different now. Better. And I just want to forget it, alright?"

"We all have trauma, cousin Betty. That's why we're both in therapy, remember? It was a joke," Cheryl sighed, crossing her arms. "So, no more funny incest jokes?"

"Not unless you want me to do the exact same back to you considering you were adopted to be your brother's wife," Betty smiled sarcastically. "So, no more unfunny incest jokes?"

"You always have to ruin the fun, don't you?" Cheryl bit at her, rolling her eyes. "Hopefully dating Archie will change that."

"Being funny is more Jughead's thing than Archie's," Veronica laughed gently, "but let's just celebrate happy, healthy Betty and get these spooky stories going, yeah?"

Everybody bunkered down in front of the fireplace for warmth, and to set the mood. When the dark haired Lodge came back into the living room, she turned off the lights and padded her way over to the group to sit beside her boyfriend. Placing the flashlight in the middle, she glanced at the other couples cuddled together.

Archie cleared his throat, "so, who's going to go first?"

"Considering this is my house, I feel I should depict who goes first," Cheryl stated. "But if any of you are feeling a little nostalgic, I was thinking I could spin a bottle."

"Oh, right, like when you chose me to kiss Archie in the closet," Veronica pointed out, pursing out her lips at the memory. "I'm game. At least whoever is chosen doesn't have to kiss the person beside them, or anything."

"Any time I think of spin the bottle, I remember the fight Archie and I had. But it was just some stupid party game you roped me into, so I could care less how we choose who goes first," Betty shrugged, resting her head against Archie's shoulder. "Besides, I finally got the boy. Why would I care about what happened a few years ago?"

Everyone else raised their hands in agreement, prompting Cheryl to grab the empty beer bottle that Sweet Pea had left standing on the table behind her. Sweet Pea and Fangs weren't big fans of the beer Cheryl's father had accumulated, so they left to grab their own. Before departing, they gave their blessing for the remaining to share their horror stories. However, they did say that if any of the stories were really scary, that the group would have to retell it to them when they got back.

"TT, want to do the honors?" Cheryl grinned at Toni, cocking a questioning eyebrow.

"Sure, babe," Toni replied, clapping her hands together and rubbing them to ready herself. With a sharp intake and release of breath, her cold, nimble fingers clutched the glass bottle and spun. As it began to slow down, she bit down on the inside of her left cheek and murmured, "I'm gonna take a guess and say that it's going to end up on Archie or Betty."

She was one couple too far. Her and Cheryl were sat beside Archie and betty, but it ended up landing on her, just a knee shy of reaching Archie's space.

"Well, that's kind of embarrassing..." Toni chuckled lightly, taking a sip of her drink. "But I guess it's a good thing I have many horror stories."

"I don't think I would classify that as a good thing, Topaz," Jughead laughed, shaking his head. "Go on, though, I want to see if you can scare us. But i'm warning you, Veronica Lodge is a hardcore badass and it'll take a lot to make her want a bathroom buddy. Are you up for the challenge?"

"Jughead!" Veronica giggled, playfully hitting his shoulder. "Just let her get on with her story. You don't need to hype me up."

“You’re right, I don't have to. But I want to," Jughead pecked her on the cheek, then settled his chin onto her shoulder waiting for Toni to start. She grabbed the flashlight and shined it on her face just enough to illuminate it in white light but not enough to blind herself.

"My story takes place when I was five. It started out all fun and happy; we went camping and had s'mores and sat around a campfire just enjoying nature and being outdoors. One night, at about three, I desperately had to go to the bathroom so I shook my uncle in hopes of waking him, but I gave in after a minute or so because I really had to go," Toni glanced around to see the group's reaction so far. They were intrigued, but definitely not scared. At least, not yet. "I was petrified, but it was either brave it and go outside to pee, or pee my pants and piss off my uncle. I cherished him not yelling at me over stupid shit so I braved it and grabbed a flashlight just like this one to guide myself to the bathroom nearby."

"There were bathrooms nearby... while camping?" Archie interrupted, dark eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Don't you normally just go to the bathroom wherever you want?"

"It was for visitors, now shush," Toni reprimanded. "Anyways, I get there and do my business, and when I exit the bathroom I bump into an older man, about twenty-something. He was dressed in camo, like a soldier or something, and almost immediately I could tell that something was off with him. I wasn't sure what until he opened his mouth to speak and blood poured down his chin, onto his uniform."

There was a collective of "ew"'s from the group.

"Then, he grabbed my shoulders as if he was desperately trying to tell me something, but instead of words all I got was a disgusting case of flying spit that splattered on my face. But, instead of spit... it was blood. Not knowing what to do, I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could, for as long as I could, and I went to hide in the bathroom because I was horrified. Waking up everything within five miles, you could probably imagine twenty worried, yet annoyed people coming to this little girl's aid."

"Aw, they're going to think you cried wolf, aren't they?" Veronica puffed out her bottom lip. "That's awful."

"Well, TT, I will always believe you," Cheryl tenderly rubbed the Serpent's hand sympathetically.

"Thank you, both of you, but let me finish, you guys!" Toni groaned. "Anyways, when my uncle came up to me I told him what happened and he swiped his thumb across my cheek at the blood and told me it was blood and tree sap from running into a tree on my way out of the bathroom."

"A... tree?"

Toni sighed, "yup. A tree. Apparently. But, he was right. He lifted me up so I could see myself in the mirror and it was clear I had scratches from the bark, but I can't get that man out of my head. I have no idea who he was, what he was trying to say, what happened to him... sometimes I think of going back to try and see him again but i'm also not absolutely insane."

"That's creepy, but not come-with-me-to-the-bathroom scary," Veronica said, shrugging. "Sorry."

"Jones, why don't you go next?"

"You're not gonna spin the bottle?"

"I was, but then I realized I could also nominate who goes next and I want to know if you have any ghost stories," Toni smiled, "go on, Juggie."

"Ugh, gross, don't ever call me that again," Jughead gagged. "Coming from your mouth, that was... I'd rather have someone spit blood all over me."

"Oh, so only your step sister can call you that?" Toni murmured, crossing her arms. "I guess it's a girlfriend thing."

"If Veronica ever called me Juggie, i'd break up with her instantly."

"Aw, Juggie, do you mean it?" Veronica teased, ruffling with his hair for a second or two before she clambered off of his lap and crawled over towards the table to grab her glass of wine. "Sorry, you know I love you. So what's your story, babe?"

Jughead took a quick drink before clearing his throat. "Actually, mine is with Archie. We were playing hide-and-go-seek-tag in the woods."

"Oh, this? Dude, c'mon, it was just a tree in the corner of your vision," Archie threw his head back, groaning. "After this happened, he wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks until I told him to just write about it and get all of his thoughts out."

"Ooh, this sounds interesting." Betty cocked her left eyebrow, sipping at her own glass. "Let's see whatcha got, Juggie."

With one long stare at the blonde for the use of that nickname he had come to despise, Jughead gratefully accepted the flashlight that Cheryl had handed down to him. "Archie and I were about nine, maybe ten, playing hide-and-go-seek-tag in the woods. Some kid, Daniel, I think, tagged me and I was mostly just trying to find Archie because he's a master at the game. In the corner of my eye, I remember seeing a red cap that he wore on his head, one of his dad's that he had claimed as his own, and I began to run towards him to tag him."

"Newsflash, it wasn't me," Archie cut in with a roll of his eyes.

"Way to ruin my groove, man," Jughead sneered. "Anyways, I ran towards him and just as I was about to clap my hand on his shoulder, a branch behind me snaps and I look over and it's Archie with his red cap, face red from the cold. He tells me that it's time to end the game and come inside because it's too cold and all of our parents had dinner ready, and he asks why I look so confused. I turned around, ready to explain that I could have swore the guy in front of me was him, but whoever it was, whatever it was, was gone, and I looked like an idiot holding my arm out for nothing."

"You didn't look like an idiot holding your arm out for nothing, you were an idiot holding your arm out for the air," Archie corrected.

Jughead ignored him, "anyways, over the course of the years i've always felt like someone, something was watching me when I go in or around those woods and I may try to be bad ass all the time but it genuinely brings a chill to my bones just thinking about it."

"I know Archie kind of kept ruining the scary mood by interrupting, but that sounds horrifying, Jug. Mostly because it's happened to me, too, just in different ways," Veronica sent her boyfriend a sympathetic side-smile. "Moving on, though, who's your victim?"

"I'm tied between Betty or Cheryl."

"I'll go? But I can't promise it'll be amazingly scary," Betty offered, unsure. Jughead nodded, stretching to hand her the flashlight. "Um, okay... this was actually before high school. It was, like, midnight, and I couldn't sleep at all, I was tossing and turning all night, and so I was wide awake and able to hear every creak and moan of the house."

"That better not be it... many houses do that," Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Sorry, go on."

"I turned my body to face the wall, and I could feel my hair, like, moving. I know it's kind of a common occurrence with long hair and whatnot, but when I noticed it I made sure not to move and it still happened. It scared me so much because there were openings by my head that, if someone were hiding underneath, they could grab my hair and drag me down into the pits of hell," Betty raked a hand through her hair, quite shaken as she thought about the distant, scary memory. "After I flattened my hair to make sure it wasn't static electricity or anything and scooted farther down, I felt my blanket falling, which, yes, happens all the time, but as I sat up and checked to see how much of my blanket had fallen, none of it was far enough to drag itself down. It was like it was being slowly pulled by some invisible demon and it scared me so much. I went to sleep in the living room and fell asleep watching Full House re-runs, and my mom let me skip school because she could see how exhausted I was."

"I thought your mom rode your ass over school, and she let you skip?" Jughead tilted his head. "Mmhm, that's not the mother I remember you venting to me about."

"That was mostly me being a selfish daughter who didn't understand that she was trying to keep me from making the mistakes she made in her high school years. Besides, this was middle school, when grades didn't matter," Betty shrugged it off, "so, V, what's your horror story?"

"Well, not counting the existence and my previous friendship with Nick St. Clair, back in New York I was with a girlfriend and some of our shared friends, and we thought it would be funny to record ourselves sleeping and see what we hear, and stuff like that. It was supposed to be all fun and games, but when we played it back the next morning, laughing at each other's snores, we heard a loud scream."

"A scream? And you didn't wake up?" Cheryl questioned. "Sounds fake, but go on."

"We all jumped, because none of us were awake, and it sounded like it was at least down the hall. What made it worse was that we heard the door open to my room, and when we asked my parents if they came in to check on us, they said that they slept through the night, and nobody got up at all that night. We were dead asleep," Veronica shivered, not of cold, but of the memory. "Then, whatever it was got really, really close to my phone and it was whispering things in another language. After searching for hours, we figured out it was Latin, and basically it... it was cursing us. I don't remember what, but I still have the recording if you want to hear it."

"You still have the recording? Why are you telling it to us, then?" Cheryl gaped, swirling her hands as if to tell Veronica to hurry up. "Show us!"

Uneasily, Veronica bit down on her bottom lip and went into her videos, knowing exactly where it was on her phone because back when it happened, she listened to it religiously. Partly, it was why she wanted to become a better person. Whatever it was, it told them to become better, more genuine people or watch everything they love crumble before them. Obviously, she chose to become a better person both because she wanted to, but partly because of what happened that night.

Veronica watched her friend's faces as the recording, which she had edited for the parts that mattered, allowed them to hear exactly what she did, it was clear that her story set them on edge. Maybe Veronica took the cake for scariest story.

"I hate that I have to go to the bathroom..." Betty whimpered. "Cheryl, can you come with me?"

"Or you could turn on every single light on your way, and keep them on," Cheryl nodded. "My story could never top Veronica's, so, um... what's next on our agenda?"

"We're back!" Sweet Pea and Fangs burst through the front door, emitting a small jump from the group. "Wow, it's dark."

"What'd we miss?"

"Veronica's story is the scariest, mostly because she has a recording," Toni explained, nodding towards Veronica. "Show them, I want to see if the badasses of the South Side Serpents can handle your story."

Veronica handed them her phone. "I'll be back, I have to go to the bathroom, too. This wine is going straight through me, it seems."

"Please don't come across a shadow-person with a red cap on your way, baby. I want you back in one piece!" Jughead joked, placing a small kiss upon her lips. "If you need help, scream. We'll be there."

"Literally, Jughead, don't jinx it."

"You know I love you."

"Yeah, I love you, too, but if I see a shadow-Archie i'm going to stab it. Repeatedly."


End file.
